287 Mack St - SOLD
The Essentials
A down-on-its-luck brick bungalow opposite Churchill Park. Under all that siding so dull it feels like a sort of camouflage, a comprehensive renovation will be needed, but it is priced accordingly. N95 masks are required for all visitors to this listing.
The Bigger Picture
Churchill Park, immediately opposite our newest listing at 287 Mack St, dates only to the 1960s but feels much older than that (sort of like me some days). It is the most formal of Kingston’s parks, and maybe the most beautiful too, cut as it is into precise triangular quarters by its footpaths and still with some of the original horticultural flourishes intact. Viewed from above it is like the most stylish of flags.
I start with mention of the park because the location of the house, between Regent and Napier Streets, adds a good bit to the value. Once it’s fixed up, you’ll be able to sit before a big new picture window and imagine yourself in London or Paris, Mexico City or Barcelona, because it really is a worldly, metropolitan sort of green space we’re talking about here, and the sound of bicycle bells and cardinals will once again be all that wake you, now that all the heavy lifting is over.
But what work! There is no getting around that the house is in poor repair. There is barely a surface that won’t need refinishing, or scrubbing, or just removing altogether. The present set-up - two bedrooms on the main floor and two more in the basement, with a bathroom on each level - may well change. We think it likely that the house will be taken down to its studs, and then why not push some of those around too? The basement is wet and there is mould present in some of the drywall and plaster. We tell you that not to discourage you, but rather to put you in possession of all the facts. We don’t want you heading out for a showing mid-pandemic, all excited because of the asking price, and imagining that a quick, cheap fix is possible here. This is a demanding, time-consuming project. It is not a property you will be able to move into on the same day you get the keys.
On the positive side (and don’t get me wrong, I love this part of the city and this will surely become again a special sort of home) there is actually a brick house under all that off-white siding. And the ceilings in the basement are high enough that it can be nicely refinished down there. There is a garage at the end of the driveway and a pretty, fenced garden. It’s a house that, once been reworked, could sell comfortably into the 500s. And if you had permission to add a second storey, the sky’s pretty much the limit.
